Microsoft: Online PR Management?

Do you think Microsoft will deal with negative reviews of the Zune? Online?

See this review in the Chicago Sun Times. Hardly a small-time publication.

If I were Microsoft I’d:

Write a detailed blog post breaking down the article and addressing each concern. Especially the one regarding the failed install. Acknowledge failure, then address it.

Respond to the thousands of comments on Digg.com to at least demonstrate that I’m listening.

Maybe point out, somewhere, that the author of this article writes a regular column with MacWorld? So maybe he’s a teeeeny bit biased?

Do a little pay per click marketing. If I search for ‘zune failure’ on Google, there are zero PPC ads. None. For $.15/click Microsoft could place an ad.

Do a little SEO. Microsoft doesn’t show up in the top 10 for ‘zune failure’ or ‘zune review’. They’re not in the top 5 for ‘zune’. Zune.net is #1 for ‘zune’, which is great and I’m sure that’s a Microsoft property, but why not hold more spots?

Ian Lurie is CEO and founder of Portent and the EVP of Marketing Services at Clearlink. He's been a digital marketer since the days of AOL and Compuserve (25 years, if you're counting). He's recorded training for Lynda.com, writes regularly for the Portent Blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Smashing Magazine, and TechCrunch.
Ian speaks at conferences around the world, including SearchLove, MozCon, Seattle Interactive Conference and ad:Tech. He has published several books about business and marketing: One Trick Ponies Get Shot, available on Kindle, The Web Marketing All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies, and Conversation Marketing.
Follow him on Twitter at portentint, and on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/ianlurie.

Comments

It is funny how big companies are not ready for PR management. Microsoft is not the only one who has a problem with this.
Sometimes, I also think that a stain in reputation is not a big issue for these companies because they already got to conquer their own industry…. However, they really need to think again.